A Single Star
by RainFlame
Summary: No one wants to be forgotten. Rated only for violence.


A single star winked out of existence.

Axel watched, uncharacteristically mesmerized by the death of the star. It was hard for him to wrap his mind around the idea that something so powerful could die in such an unremarkable way. Apparently, even the brightest flames go out.

"Axel?"

The redhead didn't move or respond. He instead waited for Demyx to seat himself on the grassy slope beside him.

"The stars are nice tonight," the Melodious Nocturne commented idly, but Axel noticed his voice held a subtle curiosity, a hidden question. What could possibly be so interesting about them as to hold Axel's attention?

Axel almost chuckled out loud. He would be the first to admit that he wasn't normally a deep thinker. He didn't usually waste time on the sentimental and wasn't much for the "bigger picture" stuff. He was much like the element he wielded; brash, unpredictable, explosive. Pondering the stars and their meaning was something Vexen would do, or maybe Zexion.

But not tonight. His spirit had been too stunned by the events earlier in the day.

It was like any other recon mission, really. Scout the planet, check things out, get back home. Just him and Demyx.

But things had gone downhill from the moment they opened a portal into this world. It opened right into the middle of a riot. Hordes of people, all shouting or screaming, gunshots and cries.

A child ran in front of him. That's all the boy was, really. A child. Probably no more than twelve and toting a gun that probably weighed twice what he did.

The next thing Axel knew, the boy was on the ground, dead.

Maybe it was the spiky red hair, or the green eyes, but the child had reminded him a lot of Lea.

"Do you think our Somebodies could still be alive?" he asked.

Demyx startled at the sudden question, but answered slowly, "No, I don't think so. Well, at least my Somebody's pretty dead."

Axel glanced at him with a raised, questioning eyebrow.

The blond shrugged. "He drowned. I even went to the funeral."

"You went to your Somebody's _funeral_?"

Demyx wriggled uncomfortably. "Well, it wasn't like I had anything better to do, right after I woke up."

Axel glanced away. He remembered what it was like to first wake up. He could vividly recall the cold confusion that could drive the most stable of minds insane, and the instinctive draw that Nobodies had to their Somebody's corpse.

He had seen Lea's. Well, he had assumed it was Lea's, at the time. All that was left were some charred bones and a pair of melted Frisbees. He didn't go to the funeral, though. There wasn't one. Axel had gathered the bones himself from the burned ruins of the church and buried them in the woods. No one watched as the Nobody filled the small hole with dirt and placed a few wild flowers and a small cross on top, save a few crickets and a screech owl. No one mourned the death of the orphan but the wind moaning through the trees.

Axel still wasn't sure why he had done that. Buried him, that is. It was absurd, really, but right at the same time. After all, who else was going to bury a poor orphan that had been sleeping in an abandoned church?

But maybe he hadn't buried Lea. Maybe that was another child that carried two Frisbees and slept in the church that night of the fire. Maybe Lea had gotten away, only to die here on this world.

Maybe. But what difference did it make? Either way, Lea was just as dead, and Axel was just as heartless.

"Axel."

"What?"

"I asked if everything was alright," Demyx repeated.

Axel shrugged his shoulders against the earth. There wasn't a reason he shouldn't be. He didn't care that the boy died. He didn't even have a tear to shed as he buried Lea's remains. Nobodies didn't do things like that. They couldn't.

So why did he feel so…sad?

It couldn't be sadness. He didn't feel sad. He didn't _feel_.

But he was sure he did.

And he almost thought he was afraid, too.

"Do you ever…think you can feel?" Axel asked tentatively. Discussing feelings at all among Organization members was almost a taboo, and was rewarded with an almost reflexive response: Nobodies don't feel.

But that's why he liked Demyx. He wasn't like most members. When he wasn't acting like a lazy ego tripper, he was actually quite amiable and even kind.

"Sometimes," the musician said, ever so quietly. As if he were afraid of being overheard. "Then I remind myself I can't."

The answer didn't satisfy Axel, but he didn't push it. "Me too," he responded.

His gaze swept over the starry expanse above him. So many stars, but all of them would eventually die. Every fire dies. Lea's flame had gone out, along with the boy's this afternoon.

And Axel's would too. With or without a heart. His own mortality frightened him.

Worse still was that he would be forgotten. Just like the boy buried in the woods.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" he asked softly.

"What?" Demyx demanded in surprise. Obviously that was the last thing the blond was expecting.

"Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. We're going to die. And who's going to care, really? We're Nobodies. The world'll keep on turning and people will go on like we never existed." No one remembered the little orphan that died in a burning church. And no one will remember the fire-wielding Nobody when he disappeared, either.

"That's what all this is about? You saw a few people die today and you're brooding over it?"

"It's a reasonable thing to brood over, don't you think?" he asked. "Being forgotten…sounds like an awful way to go."

"Being forgotten isn't a cause of death, Axel," Demyx informed.

"There's more than one kind of death, I think. The death of the body, the death of the heart. What's left for Nobodies but the death of our memory, too?"

The Melodious Nocturne shook his head. "You're _afraid_?" he said the word like a foreign thing. "Afraid of being forgotten?" When Axel didn't reply, the blond continued speaking. "No one is ever forgotten, Axel. Not really."

Axel arched an eyebrow again. "How so?"

Demyx took a moment to arrange his thoughts. "All throughout your life you meet people. Every person you run into, you make an impression on, and that in turn affects them into making an impression of their own on someone else.

"Think about Roxas. You were the one that taught him how to fight. You also taught him how to make those amazing chocolate cookies. One day he'll have an apprentice of his own. He'll teach the same things you taught him. That's you, Axel. That's your memory."

Axel again returned his attention to the sky. The night was drawing to a close. The horizon was tinged a bright gray and a few birds begin to chirp in the distance. Soon the stars would be out of sight and they would have to leave.

He noticed something else, too. His fear was gone. Here in this moment, he felt oddly peaceful.

Maybe the fear was never there in the first place. He wasn't supposed to be able to feel, anyway. But maybe it was this new wisdom Demyx had imparted on him. Maybe he was content.

"Are you satisfied with that?" Demyx asked, as if reading his mind.

"I think so," Axel said slowly. "Still not too keen on dying, though," he added.

Demyx smirked. "I should think not. You ready to head out?"

With a grunt, Axel pulled himself to his feet and brushed grass off his cloak. "Sure thing. Let's scout this blasted planet so we can go home." He offered the other Nobody a hand.

Demyx took it and pulled himself up. Together they gathered their meager supplies and set off down the slope, toward the sunrise.

Yes, he was a Nobody. But he wouldn't die like that star, unnoticed and silent. Roxas and Demyx would remember. And those that came after them would also remember, in some small way.

He could be content with that.

* * *

Special thanks go to DaughterOfSorceress-Lion for her fantastic editing and wonderful thoughts. Thanks again for everything :)

Please drop a review, if you will. I always love to hear from you guys :]

God Bless,

-RainFlame


End file.
